Includes bibliographical references and index.

America the expander -- America the Western hegemon -- America the hesitant helper -- America the leader of the free world -- America the unipolar hegemon -- America the unleashed -- America the lost.

"Through a historical and data-driven review of the US's dominant foreign policy trends from 1776 until today, America the Bully argues that since the end of the Cold War and especially post-9/11, the US has become addicted to military intervention. Lacking clear national strategic goals, the US now pursues a security whack-a-mole policy, more reactionary than deliberate. America the Bully dedicates a chapter to each defining era of US foreign policy, applying selected historical narratives, anecdotes of US foreign policy officials, case study examples, and compelling patterns derived from the data in the Military Intervention Project (MIP). Each chapter highlights the ways in which the US used and balanced primary tools of statecraft - War, Trade, and Diplomacy - to achieve its objectives. It showcases, however, that in recent decades, the US has heavily favored force over the other pillars of statecraft. The book concludes with a warning that if the US does not stem increasing trends of kinetic diplomacy, it may do irrevocable damage its diplomatic corps, dooming it to costly and often useless wars of choice. It may be doomed to the path of reactionary aggression, increasing its military footprint internationally to the detriment of its diplomatic and economic influence. If this trend continues, it could spell disaster for the US's image, credibility, and ultimately, its international and domestic stability"--